Storage and retrieval of nonclassical photon pairs and conditional single photons generated by parametric down-conversion process

Storage and retrieval of parametric down-conversion (PDC) photons are demonstrated with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Extreme frequency filtering is performed for THz order of broadband PDC light and the frequency bandwidth of the light is reduced to MHz order. Storage and retrieval procedures are carried out for the frequency filtered PDC photons. Since the filtered bandwidth [full width at half-maximum (FWHM) = 9 MHz] is within the EIT window (FWHM = 12.6 MHz), the flux of the PDC light is successfully stored and retrieved. The nonclassicality of the retrieved light is confirmed by using photon counting method, where the classical inequality which is only satisfied for classical light fields is introduced. Since the PDC photons can be utilized for producing the single photon state conditionally, storage and retrieval procedures are also performed for the conditional single photons. Anti-correlation parameter used for checking the property of single photon state shows the value less than 1, which means the retrieved light is in a non-classical region.

Observation of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency for a Squeezed Vacuum with the Time Domain Method

A probe light in a squeezed vacuum state was injected into cold 87 $Rb atoms with an intense control light in a coherent state. A sub-MHz window was created due to electromagnetically induced transparency, and the incident squeezed vacuum could pass through the cold atoms without optical loss, as was successfully monitored using a time-domain homodyne method.